HÀ NỘI — Vice President Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh yesterday received nearly 200 delegates from 46 countries and territories, who are participating in the ongoing 4th Conference on Advertising Vietnamese Literature, at the President Palace in Hà Nội.

Praising the Việt Nam Writers’ Association for hosting such events, the Vice President stressed the conference helps promote Vietnamese literature and distinguishes its identify to international friends.

“This is a chance to gather and consolidate Vietnamese writers to get closer approach to more nations in various fields to make more contributions to literature and arts in a new situation,” she said.

“During the wars, poems were composed with love for the country, desire for peace and eternal willingness for the love and desire,” she said.

“During peace periods, poetry continues to echo in a holy mission: protect, build and develop the cultural foundation in each Vietnamese person’s soul,” she said.

Across history, Việt Nam has always received valuable support from peace loving people across the world, especially poets and writers, she said.

The Vice President said she hoped writers continued to come to Việt Nam.

During the conference, which started on February 16, Vietnamese and international friends discussed measures to change the appearance of Vietnamese literature internationally.

Many participants said Vietnamese publishers should promote Vietnamese authors and works overseas.

They agreed that Vietnamese writers should also be more active in the world, and more and more writers are starting to produce works in English and French.

“We should invest more in translating Vietnamese poems into foreign languages in a more systematical way,” said translator Lâm Quang Mỹ, a member of Vietnamese Writers Association and Polish Writers’ Association. “Then I think Vietnamese poets will be known as much as poets from other countries.”

In 2018, Vietnamese literature has won some achievements with international prizes of writers Nguyễn Quang Thiều (South Korea’s Changwon KC International Literary award), Nguyễn Ngọc Tư (Liberaturpreis by Litprom, association for advertising literature of Asia, Africa and Latin America in Frankfurt, Germany) and Bảo Ninh (Asian Literature Award in South Korea).

However, many experts said the advertisement of Vietnamese literature has remained limited.

“We haven’t got proper investment in literature,” said researcher Nguyên An. “By investment I mean not only money for translation but also preparing profound scholars to do translations.”

According to poet Hữu Thỉnh, chairman of the Vietnamese Writers’ Association, Việt Nam has very few professional translators who can translate Vietnamese literature into other languages.

“That’s why we have to translate first into English, from which literature works can be translated into some other languages ,” he said.

Many experts said the State should nurture a team of translators and facilitate their work so that they can live on the career.

To promote Vietnamese literature in South Korea, Prof Ahn Kyong Hwan, chairman of Vietnamese Liaterature Research Association in South Korea, suggested Việt Nam hire a Korean expert specialising in Việt Nam living in South Korea.

“Then Vietnamese Government could support the expert in translating Vietnamese literature works into Korean,” he suggested. — VNS